Editing Marsupial (section)

===={{anchor|Male}}Males====
[[File:The_cyclopædia_of_anatomy_and_physiology_(1847)_(20821803985).jpg|thumb|left|100px|Reproductive tract of a male [[Macropodidae|macropod]]]]
Most male marsupials, except for [[macropodidae|macropod]]s<ref name="Staker2014">{{cite book| vauthors = Staker L |title=Macropod Husbandry, Healthcare and Medicinals—Volumes One and Two|url={{google books|plainurl=y |id=37e1AwAAQBAJ}}|date=30 June 2014|publisher=Lynda Staker|isbn=978-0-9775751-2-1}}</ref> and [[marsupial mole]]s,<ref>
[https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2452234.pdf On the Habits and Affinities of the New Australian Mammal, Notoryctes typhlops]
E. D. Cope
''The American Naturalist''
Vol. 26, No. 302 (February 1892), pp. 121–128</ref> have a [[wikt:bifurcated|bifurcated]] penis, separated into two columns, so that the penis has two ends corresponding to the females' two vaginas.{{sfn|Nowak|1999}}<ref name=DaMR>{{cite web|url=http://www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep |publisher=Iowa State University Biology Dept. |title=Discoveries about Marsupial Reproduction | vauthors = King A |year=2001 |access-date=22 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905123347/http://www.biology.iastate.edu/InternationalTrips/1Australia/Australia%20papers/Discoveries%20about%20Marsupial%20Rep |archive-date=5 September 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | doi=10.1007/978-1-349-02721-7_24|chapter = Reproduction in male marsupials|title = The Biology of Marsupials| pages=411–457|year = 1977| vauthors = Setchell BP | isbn=978-1-349-02723-1}}</ref><ref name="Renfree1987">{{cite book| vauthors = Renfree M, Tyndale-Biscoe H |title=Reproductive Physiology of Marsupials|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=HpjovN0vXW4C}}|date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521337922}}</ref> The penis is used only during [[copulation (zoology)|copulation]], and is separate from the [[urinary tract]].<ref name="Renfree1987" /><ref name="DaMR" /> It curves forward when erect,<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Sadleir R |title=The Reproduction of Vertebrates|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=PVP-wS9UXwoC}}|date=1973|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-323-15935-7}}</ref> and when not erect, it is retracted into the body in an S-shaped curve.<ref name="Renfree1987"/> Neither marsupials nor monotremes possess a [[baculum]].{{sfn|Nowak|1999}} The shape of the [[glans penis]] varies among marsupial species.<ref name="Renfree1987"/><ref name="Society1978">{{cite book|author=Australian Mammal Society|title=Australian Mammal Society|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=N_ifwszrgFsC|page=73}}|date=1978|publisher=Australian Mammal Society|pages=73–}}</ref><ref name="OsgoodHerrick1921">{{cite book| vauthors = Osgood WH, Herrick CJ |title=A monographic study of the American marsupial, Caēnolestes ...|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=8Ag9AAAAYAAJ|page=64}}|year=1921|publisher=University of Chicago|pages=64–}}</ref><ref name="The Urologic and Cutaneous Review">{{cite book|title=The Urologic and Cutaneous Review|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=nApEAAAAYAAJ|page=677}}|year=1920|publisher=Urologic & Cutaneous Press|pages=677–}}</ref>

The shape of the urethral grooves of the males' genitalia is used to distinguish between ''[[Monodelphis brevicaudata]]'', ''[[Monodelphis domestica|M. domestica]]'', and ''[[Monodelphis americana|M. americana]]''. The grooves form two channels that form the ventral and dorsal folds of the erectile tissue.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors = Nogueira J, Castro AS, Câamara EC, Câmara BO |title= Morphology of the Male Genital system of ''Chironectes minimus'' and Comparison to other didelphid marsupials|journal= Journal of Mammalogy|volume= 85|issue= 5|pages= 834–841|doi=10.1644/207|year= 2004|s2cid= 85595933}}</ref> Several species of [[dasyurid]] marsupials can also be distinguished by their penis morphology.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Woolley PA, Westerman M, Krajewski C |date=December 2007|title=Interspecific Affinities within the Genus Sminthopsis (Dasyuromorphia: Dasyuridae) Based on Morphology of the Penis: Congruence with Other Anatomical and Molecular Data|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=88|issue=6|pages=1381–1392|doi=10.1644/06-mamm-a-443r.1|issn=0022-2372|doi-access=free}}</ref> Marsupials' only accessory sex glands are the [[prostate]] and [[bulbourethral gland]]s.<ref name="Rodger&Hughes1973">{{cite journal| vauthors = Rodger JC, Hughes RL|title=Studies of the accessory glands of male marsupials|journal=Australian Journal of Zoology|year=1973|volume=21|issue=3|page=303|doi=10.1071/ZO9730303|hdl=1959.4/70011 |url=https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:71547/SOURCE01?view=true|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Male marsupials have one to three pairs of bulbourethral glands.<ref>{{Cite book| vauthors = Vogelnest L, Portas T |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=396VDwAAQBAJ&q=bulbourethral|title=Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals |date=2019-05-01|publisher=Csiro Publishing|isbn=978-1-4863-0753-1|language=en}}</ref> [[Ampullae of vas deferens]], [[seminal vesicle]]s or coagulating glands are not present.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rodger JC | title = Comparative aspects of the accessory sex glands and seminal biochemistry of mammals | journal = Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. B, Comparative Biochemistry | volume = 55 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–8 | date = January 1976 | pmid = 780045 | doi = 10.1016/0305-0491(76)90164-4 }}</ref><ref name="Hunsaker1977">{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=cESCLrRJGm0C}} |title=The Biology of Marsupials |vauthors=Hunsaker II D |publisher=Elsevier Science |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-323-14620-3}}</ref> The prostate is proportionally larger in marsupials than in placentals.<ref name="Renfree1987" /> During the breeding season, the male [[tammar wallaby]]'s prostate and bulbourethral gland enlarge. However, the weight of the testes does not vary seasonally.<ref name="Inns1982">{{cite journal | vauthors = Inns RW | title = Seasonal changes in the accessory reproductive system and plasma testosterone levels of the male tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, in the wild | journal = Journal of Reproduction and Fertility | volume = 66 | issue = 2 | pages = 675–680 | date = November 1982 | pmid = 7175821 | doi = 10.1530/jrf.0.0660675 | doi-access = free }}</ref>